Thursday, June 23, 2016

Being harassed isn't fun and Alexia lost her voice


Eyes Set to Kill, Fort Worth, TX

Junior & Kim discussing how cool it'd be to play an outdoor theater

After the Austin show, the other bands had a few days off, but One-Eyed Doll had a meet & greet in San Antonio. It was a misty day, but we spent some time in SA sight seeing and having mini photoshoots. One night Kim, Junior and I went out and got foot/back massages. They used hot stones towards the end, and now every time my back is sore from work I crave a hot stone massage. (There's actually a place in my area that does them, but it costs around $100.)

This was all taking place during the Houston flooding. There was supposed to be Houston show, but it was cancelled out of respect to those that live there and for the safety of the fans. From what I can tell, our usuals from Houston are safe and sound :) So we headed onward to Corpus Christi. Junior found a little RV park right on the beach.

The Pier

The beach

The shore from on the Pier

Kim thought my profile looked cool against this lighting
Another random story from tour. One day Kim and I were explaining to Mike all of the things girls have to deal with because we're girls. Example: We were stopped at a truck stop. Junior was getting food and Kim went to find something in a cooler to drink. A trucker came over to help Kim pick out something to drink. After that, we had to use the buddy system to go to the bathroom because it was on the other side of the truck stop. Or when men "help" girls through doors by putting their hand on their lower back. A question for all the men reading this, has another man ever ushered you through a door by placing his hand on your lower back and pushing you through? I didn't think so. Or the guy at one of the shows who kept harassing all of us at merch. But me, being the only girl working merch, was the only one he felt he needed to put his arm around whenever he tried talking to me (I ended up going and standing next to Mike while he ran lights during OED's set because he wouldn't stop trying to put his arm around his waist.) Another thing we were explaining to Mike is how women are constantly being told by men to smile. Well on this day in particular Junior bought us all Chinese food. My fortune cookie said "A smile increased your face value" LOL. Seriously? Now even fortune cookies are telling me to smile. THEN! Later at the show, I was sitting on one of the merch bins resting my feet and bopping back and forth to the music when a guy leaned over the table and told me to smile.  BAH! It was weird but funny that all of that happened to take place the same day.

(The following photos are from Lubbock, TX. I didn't get any photos of Open Your Eyes because I was on the bus saving my voice/lungs because the door lady was smoking)

Lubbock, TX

Kim stealing souls

Riggs!

Two little helpers for Be My Friend

Eyes Set to Kill
I feel like this blog is getting kinda negative, so here's a cool picture Kim took of me in the green room in Albuquerque, NM.


How about some more photos from the really awesome all ages venue in Albuquerque?

I'm pretty sure that crazy blur in the center is Justin's dreads flying back!

Open Your Eyes

Back Bend

Flailing around



Kim on a drumset

*insert Kim scream here*

Riggs looking like a rockstar and the girls on the right are having the time of their lives


AJ, the touring guitarist for Eyes Set to Kill had a few gigs with his own band, so Ryan from Open Your Eyes stepped in. This was his first night :)




Unfortunately, Alexia was having a lot of voice problems by this time, and Eyes Set to Kill had to cut their set short because it was so bad that night. They ended up not even making it to their home town show in Phoenix the next day :(  Luckily, she got it checked out, took a few days to rest, and they were back with us in California.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Kim kicked a drunk guy and I hung out in NYC by myself

Let's start with tour pictures this time!

Open Your Eyes, Indianapolis, IN
Open Your Eyes, Indianapolis, IN

Riggs! :D  Indianapolis, IN

I think Riggs and Kim are both sticking their tongues out,  Indianapolis, IN

A fan playing the leg guitar on Be My Friend,  Indianapolis, IN

Eyes Set to Kill,  Indianapolis, IN

Eyes Set to Kill,  Indianapolis, IN
You've already seen the pictures from Jacksonville, NC, how about a story from the show? This will answer the question of what happened at the end of OED's set for people who were there.

As many of you know, Kim sometimes comes out into the audience during the end of the last song and plays in the crowd while thrashing around. Kim is also, sadly, used to being harassed by guys in the audience. At this particular show, Kim was backing up and trying to get the audience to clear a path so she could run and jump back on stage, when a drunk guy came up behind her, reached around, and put one hand of each of Kim's breasts. Out of reflex, Kim shoved her guitar back into him, then turned around and kicked him square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. At this point Kim's at the end of her guitar cable. She has a second to decide if she continues with the show, or sets her guitar down and goes after him. She ended up finishing the show, but security was on the guy immediately.

It's really unfortunate that things like this happens, and Kim would rather not have to resort to violence. But she also wants her young female fans to know that they need to stand up for themselves and that they shouldn't let people treat them like that.

Ben working VERY hard side stage, St. Louis, MO

St. Louis, MO

Is Junior looking at me? St. Louis, MO

Hard to see little helper, and mom, St. Louis, MO

There she is!

St. Louis, MO
I also posted a picture from the NYC car wash last blog. Last tour we had 2 days off to play in NYC, but this time there was only 1. Kim and Junior had a promo thing at Korg, so we parked at the usual place, and they rented a car to take to Korg headquarters. The boys, only having 1 day off, wanted to be lame and stay at the hotel relaxing and doing laundry. Me, not wanting to waste a chance to hang out in NYC, decided to head out alone. I've gone into the city from this location twice, but I had at least Potato Erik with me the past 2 times. The boys told me to call/text if anything happened (which is really not helpful if I get mugged and have my phone stolen). Refusing to live my life in fear, I bundled up, and walked to the bus stop in the cold, drizzly weather. Took a bus into the city, then the subway to lower Manhattan where there's a store called Gothic Renaissance Kim and I had been wanting to check out. The place had some cool things, but the people working weren't very friendly towards me. I won't get into all of that though. I bought a couple of things, then went and checked out the year round halloween/costume store next door. It's your typical decoration and costume store, but it's HUGE! I actually ended up getting way more stuff there, and the people actually acknowledged my existence! I ended up having 2 separate conversations about Dr. Who with the older lady working downstairs.

Afterwards I stopped into a Starbucks to warm up and caffeinate. I think it was while I was there that Kim texted to ask what we were up to. I think they were done with their business stuff at Korg and were just kind of hanging out. I also think that as soon as Junior found out I was alone in NYC he may have freaked out a little bit, and they headed into the city to meet up with me. I wanted to get another Times Square selfie (this time sadly without Potato) so we agreed to meet around there. They found me, and we headed down to Chinatown for some dinner. Before eating, Kim wanted to check out some shops before they closed.  We did a little shopping, got some cool gifts, then had dinner at a really yummy Chinese restaurant. Even though we were stuffed, we then popped over to this little dessert place we'd gone to on the Witches tour.

Afterwards, Kim asked if there was anything else I wanted to do in NYC. The only thing I hadn't accomplished was stopping into the cool little craft beer place Potato and I had discovered our first time in NYC. Even though Kim doesn't drink, she thought we should go so I could cross that one last thing off my do-to list. So we hung out there for a bit. Junior tried a sour for the first time, I had a coffee milk stout, and Kim enjoyed a non-alcoholic ginger beer. It was a fun day over all. The boys really missed out.

Witches Tour Spring 2015

Halloween Tour Fall 2015

Visions Tour Spring 2016

Thursday, June 16, 2016

More of Spring 2016 and trivia.

I never got a chance to finish last tour's blog, so I'm going to try to do little blogs that are a bit different. Ben also requested more Snork trivia, so let's start with that...

In addition to One-Eyed Doll, I'm also a fan of the Dresden Dolls and Amanda Palmer.  I managed to see them live once before they first broke up. They came to Grand Rapids, MI with "Panic! At the Disco." I had never heard of PATD before, and wasn't really into the music I found online, so I went, saw the Dresden Dolls, waited around in the hallway after their set, bought some merch, got some stuff sign, took a picture of them (OF them, not WITH them, because I was all nervous and star struck), then left. That was back in 2006. In 2010 the announced a reunion tour. The first show kicked off in NYC on Halloween, which was also their 10th "Bandiversary." I managed to get tickets! I spent my birthday in the car driving 13+ hours from Grand Rapids, MI to Newark, NJ. The next day my boyfriend at the time and I took a bus/subway into the city, saw The Addams Family on Broadway (on Halloween!), and went to the show that night. We got to the venue an hour or so early to scope it out, and there were already a few dozen people in line, so we got in line. We were a few rows of standing people back from the stage in a packed room. And it... was... AMAZING!!!! They played TWO encores! I actually almost passed out from the heat/standing at the very end and had to be walked out into the hallway where security got me a water bottle. But it was totally worth it. We got out so late we missed the last subway back, and had to camp out in the subway station from like 4am-6am (which my ex was not happy about). Again. Totally worth it. I also saw them a few weeks later in Chicago.

Fast forward to this Spring. We're at a venue just outside of Chicago. I'm talking to awesome fan Yacob the Swedish Ref. We somehow got talking about The Dresden Dolls. I was telling him about NYC and mentioned I also saw them in Chicago.

Wait, you saw them in Chicago? So did I! With Mucca Pazza?
Yeah, and Amanda went up into the balcony and sang Mein Herr?
Yeah!!!! Oh my gosh!!! I was there too!!!!


So, 6 years ago, the year before I even had a chance to see One-Eyed Doll live, I was at the same concert as another Doll Head. Small world!

Now, random pictures!!!


 Jacksonville, NC
Jacksonville, NC
Driving the rental car through a carwash in NYC
Open Your Eyes, Allentown, PA
Allentown, PA
Allentown, PA
Eyes Set to Kill, Allentown, PA
Kim with the members of Candy Brain!